To start the New Year, I trudged over to Vancouver with M for a few days. We were greeted by pouring rain and it barely left our side for the entire trip, like a feral dog enamoured with the possibility of food scraps. The weather was so miserable, it was almost comical. Still, we scurried from place to place, my shoes and socks saturated with icy water, my hair so frizzy and curly that it rendered my hair brush obsolete.
Although I wish I could have extended my stay in Vancouver a little longer, I was very happy to see my kitchen: the counters littered with bubbling mason jars, the chopsticks of various colours and lengths sticking out haphazardly from unexpected places, and my treasured supply of amber-coloured kombucha.
The next day, I scrubbed the counters with lemon juice, tidied and stocked my fridge, and started going through my checklist of basic stocks and sauces that I like to have on hand for cooking.
One of these is mentsuyu (麺汁), literally noodle stock, a darkly coloured liquid with an intense Japanese flavour. As its name suggests, it is used in the preparation of a variety of noodle dishes, especially soba and udon. But its uses go far beyond bathing threads of cooked starch! Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be showing you a variety of delicious vegetable dishes that can be concocted using your homemade batch of mentsuyu.
Unlike commercial preparations of mentsuyu, this recipe is gluten-, sugar- and additive-free. It takes about 10 minutes to make from start to finish, and keeps for a month in the fridge.
Joëlle
This fragrant, dark-coloured liquid is an essential part of the Japanese pantry. Whether it is used to bathe or dip noodles, or to flavour stir-fries and hot pots, it lends an unmistakably Japanese taste to any dish. This version is gluten-, sugar- and additive-free and takes only minutes to prepare.
2 minPrep Time
8 minCook Time
10 minTotal Time
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup sake
- 1/2 cup tamari
- 1/3 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup packed katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
- 1 piece kombu (4x4cm)
Instructions
- Bring sake to a boil in a small saucepan.
- Let the alcohol evaporate for a few seconds, then add tamari and mirin.
- Add katsuobushi and kombu and cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Let the mixture cool down, and strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the solids.
- Store in the fridge for up to a month.
Calories
Carbs
Protein
Guidance and Inspiration
Just One Cookbook — Mentsuyu (Noodle Soup Base)
❤ Thank you Nami!
